Death Toll Revised to 50 in Xinjiang, China Violence

BEIJING, Sept. 26 (UPI) — Chinese state media announced an upward-revised death toll, to 50, in last weekend’s violence in China’s western Xinjiang province.

The initial report indicated two people died in the Sept. 21 bomb attacks by suspected Uighur militants in three locations of Bugur county of the Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture. The death toll was revised upward after Radio Free Asia, a news service underwritten by the U.S. government, reported that 12 people were killed, citing eyewitness accounts.

Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency, categorized the victims as 40 “rioters,” six civilians, two police officers and two auxiliary police officers.

No explanation was given for the discrepancies or the revision.

The Chinese government is in the midst of an anti-terrorism campaign against what they claim are Uighur separatists in Xinjiang, where members of the Uighur Muslim minority complain of repression by Chinese authorities.